Wisconsin Badgers safety Matt Jung takes winding path from D2 to D3 to D1 as he fulfills dream

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PLATTEVILLE — For every Wisconsin football homecoming game, a young Matt Jung would make the trip to Madison to attend the game with his grandparents and stay at the same hotel as the team.

“So me and my little brothers would walk around with little mini helmets, and we’d try to find players and get helmets signed,” Jung said. “That was a pretty special moment for me.”

When Wisconsin’s 2025 season kicks off Aug. 28 against Miami (Ohio), Jung will have a Badgers helmet in hand, too — his Badger helmet.

Jung, a Neenah native, is among the players who add enviable depth to the Badgers’ safety position after transferring in the winter from NCAA Division III-level Bethel University in Saint Paul, Minnesota, with two years of eligibility remaining.

The Division III first-team All-American led the country last year with nine interceptions and four pick-6s, all while only being a sophomore. He also had a team-high 109 tackles and forced two fumbles. That was a year after making seven interceptions — two of which were pick-6s — as a true freshman in 2023.

“He’s a ball hawk,” UW safety Preston Zachman said. “He attacks the ball. … That’s going to be really good for us, and we like continuing to see him grow.”

His ability to disrupt the passing game was on display at Wisconsin’s July 31 practice, as he intercepted backup quarterback Hunter Simmons while he was playing what the Badgers refer to as “middle runner.”

Wisconsin safeties coach Jack Cooper has been particularly impressed with Jung’s “natural football IQ.”

“He does a really good job of anticipating stuff, and he knows when routes are building and how things are developing, whether it’s formationally, pre-snap, post-snap,” Cooper said.

That’s not to mention Jung’s fit with the Badgers’ team culture.

“He’s really embracing what we’re doing every single day,” Cooper said. “He’s a talented football player, disciplined football player who works at it, and I think he’s just really ingratiated himself in the culture.”

Teammates already are comfortable enough with him to give him a hard time in media interviews, as fellow safety Austin Brown showed after the July 31 practice.

“He’s a very goofy, very intelligent human being,” Brown said. “But as a person, he has his little slow moments sometimes. And love the dude to death. … For how smart he is, he surprises you with the dumb questions or the dumb things he says. And you’re just kind of like, ‘All right, that made no sense, but yeah, OK dude, whatever.’”

Going from Division II to Division III, to now Big Ten

Jung’s athletic career first began at Minnesota State Mankato, where he broke his leg in his first semester and entered the transfer portal. 

“At the time as a high school player, Division II was where I ended up,” Jung said, “and I don’t think I was really underrecruited. … I think I did need that time. That two years at Bethel were awesome for me. Getting that under my belt, gaining confidence — I definitely needed that.”

He had no shortage of Division I suitors after two years as a Division III standout.

Jung announced his entry into the transfer portal on Dec. 17 and announced offers on X from Kent State, Texas-El Paso, Buffalo and Washington State on that same day. He reported an Iowa State offer one day later.

“Coming from the D3 level, I didn’t really expect Power Four schools like Wisconsin to hit me up,” said Jung, who frankly had “no idea what to expect.”

Then he received the “special call” from the Badgers’ staff.

“I got the offer driving back for winter break from Bethel, and then I got home, went right to dinner with Coach (Luke) Fickell and the staff and took my official visit the next day and committed that day,” Jung said.

Jung’s Dec. 19 commitment gave him plenty of time to enroll at UW for his spring semester. He said the transition from Division III football to Division I has been “about as smooth as it could be.”

“It’s obviously a crazy change,” Jung said. “Coming from the D3 level, it’s a lot more time. It’s a lot more play calls. Just everything’s more. But at the same time, coaches can pour more into you. The strength coach can pour more into you.”

He did initially feel “lost” amid the leap to Division I.

“But that’s normal,” Jung said. “I’m going to Coach Coop’s office every day and sitting down with him, and he’s building confidence in me. … And then I think a few spring ball practices in or even after some of the OTAs, I was like, ‘OK, yeah, I’m making some plays.’”

Adding to UW's depth at safety

Jung was not UW’s only notable transfer addition at safety.

Matthew Traynor came from FCS-level Richmond, where he was the Coastal Athletic Association’s rookie of the year and a third-team all-conference selection. Cooper said he brings a “Big Ten toughness” and “Wisconsin Badger toughness” to the safety position.

The challenge may be how to get both Jung and Traynor — the “Matties,” as Cooper refers to them — substantial opportunities on the field behind Zachman and Brown. Zachman played in 753 of UW’s 773 defensive snaps last year, per Pro Football Focus, and Brown saw 459 defensive snaps.

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“We’re going to give the Matties some reps,” Cooper said. “Preston may have been around, but at the same time, there’s no jobs given in our defense, and they do embrace that. … We’ve been really trying to push those guys to get reps with other groups and really work with other corners, work with other linebackers, getting other calls, making sure the whole entire defense is comfortable with us making the calls and setting the defense.”

Whatever role Jung has at the end of fall camp, the ball-hawking safety from Neenah will at least experience the “really surreal” moment in a few weeks of running out of the tunnel at Camp Randall Stadium as a member of his long-beloved Badgers.

“I grew up dreaming of playing at Camp Randall,” Jung said, “and to think of the fact that I’m going to be competing for playing time, competing to have an impact on the Wisconsin Badgers — that’s something I’ve dreamed of since I can remember. That’s what matters to me.”